Pulling into a caravan park was very exciting for us as it felt like an eternity since we had stayed in one. We eventually chose our site, away from both the Hambrooks and Hardfirms, to give us all space. The Big 4 at Forest Glen is a nice park nestled in amongst the forest, surrounded with huge trees and sounds of birds all the time. It was slightly run down though, with amenities that hadn't had any money spent on them for a while by the looks, and the van sites had old slabs, not big enough for the vans in this day and age. It was also very damp and dirty, a little frustrating when trying to keep the floors clean. Anyway, after setting up we decided to see how it felt during the next few weeks before setting things in stone to stay here. Already we had our doubts that it would hit the mark for some reason.
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| Our camp at Forest Glen Big 4 Caravan Park... |
The next few weeks were spent trying to research schools, find employment and also chill out with Boof and Nik. Being just after Christmas and New Years, people were still in holiday mode and both Marty and l were finding it hard to get some news on jobs. With schools closed we were left to research thru the internet and the school close by to the park looked good, but with Riley enrolled to go there we didn't know if it would help the girls or hinder them. We didn't want the girls to just hang out with Riley and not make new friendships, which we feared seeing they all adored one another. So we were still up in the air to were to live and what school to send the girls. I think we decided it was too hard, so put in on the back burner for a little while longer and decided to head out and explore the area a bit and catch up with our mates and family instead, much more fun than worrying we reckon!
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| Boo loving her new outfit, beats camping clothes! |
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Morning out at Maroochydore River with Nik, Billie,
Dale and kids.... |
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| Cutie Ella.... |
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Enjoying some down time, lazing on a blanket,
under the trees with a book...bliss! |
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| Cheeky girls helping me with the cooking!!! |
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| Girls loving hanging out with Jordyn once more! |
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| Girls having a dance with their cousin... |
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| Homemade didgeridoo... |
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| Meg losses another tooth! |
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| Toothless terror mates! Meg and Mog... |
So things were starting to come together with sorting out our work stop. I got word that l had been accepted for an interview at Buderim Private Hospital after Australia Day weekend. Marty was applying for heaps of jobs but no luck yet, but it was still early days. But he had purchased a second car for us to use while we were here, which was automatically making life easier for us. We did have to drain the girls accounts to buy it, as we were getting pretty skint in our account, but we knew we would replenish it after we got working. The girls were excited to own a car!
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| New little buzz box! |
With another beautiful sunny day it was time to head out with the HardFirms and check out Coolum Beach. We hadnt been up that way before and when we arrived, we knew instantly that this beach was a great one. It was a lot more quieter than in Mooloolaba and had a nice cosy feel to it, with big enough waves for the kids to boogie board on. The day was brilliant, filled with sand castles, body surfing and lazing on the beach. I could get used to this!!!!
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| Coolum Beach... |
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| Beach soccer fun...Riley and Meg having a kick. |
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| Marty loving being at the beach!!! Dag.. |
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| Hello up there Meg... |
The sun didn't last long and the rain began once more. We were getting a bit over the park, as everytime it rained our annex would get flooded and dirt would wash onto our slab. This made it really difficult to keep the van and the girls clean. Plus, we were getting a bit over being stuck inside all the time. We were also traveling into the coast alot, not having a great deal to do out this way, so with that, we made plans to move into Maroochydoore to a park after Australia Day.
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Rainy day...may as well contact some school books!
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| Meg was a great help.... |
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After the rain stops, what else is there to do
but have fun in the puddles! |
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| Wet and muddy...but so much fun had! |
Australia Day was a very special day for two reasons, to celebrate this wonderful country and also it was Riley's birthday. We had a great time celebrating both, with Tonia putting a party on at the park for Riley a few days before so he could have all his friends over. We had a great day with lots of booze and music, the kids enjoying the festivities also playing billiards on hte pool table. We had to wrap things up early too as we were getting pretty rowdie and complaints had been made. Bloody nomads!
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| Riley's b'day party... |
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| Kids tucking into the party food! |
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| Birthday boy.... |
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| Girls so chuffed with their homemade card for Riley! |
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| Gift giving time.. |
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| Where's my hug??? |
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| Riley giving Boo instructions...typical foreman! |
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| Must learn to drink the wine quicker...floating flies! |
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| Well that birthday pressie didnt take long to make! |
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| Think Meg's having just as much fun as Riley! |
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| Tonia having some fun too... |
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| Face painting too... |
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| Kids idea of putting their thongs on!!! |
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| This party has gone out of control on sugar!! |
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| Time for Tonia to show the boys how its done! |
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| Sign of a great day! |
We headed out the next day with the HardFirms to explore the Hinterland up near the Blackall Ranges. It was such a gorgeous drive, getting right up in the hills, winding around sweeping roads and overlooking paddocks grazing with cattle. I so loved this area, and its right on the backdoor to the Sunny Coast and beaches. We made our way up the ranges, pulling off the road at a lookout. It was glorious, overlooking hills below full of lush green grass and trees. Meg was in a mood and was using her usual whining voice, so it took some tranquility out of the moment. No peace experienced up on the hill, just a loud mum yelling at her 6 year old daughter!!!!
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| View from the lookout over the Blackall Ranges below....spectacular! |
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| Beautiful Boo... |
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| Compass showing us all the towns in the surrounding area.. |
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| Meg obviously enjoying herself! |
Embarressed once again, we set off in the car and made our way to Kondalilla Falls. It proved to be the place to be on this fine day with it hard to find a park. We walked the short distance down, the girls excited to be going for a swim. We spent an hour or so cooling off in the water, with copious amounts of people, and lazing on the banks watching idiots plumet off a cliff into the water. In my head, l just repeated "I am not a nurse"!!! On a smaller level, the girls and l jumped off into the water, it was barely a 2m drop, but was fun all the same and the girls had a ball. We did see some wickered jumps though, with some doing back flips from a vast height. There was one injury with an Asian fairing worse off with a huge gash to his foot, but thats the price for stupidity isnt it! Maybe l'm too old, but l just cant see the sense in jumping off a perfectly good cliff, not knowing what you could land on below. Or maybe l have just seen too many horrors from people jumping into water and ending up with spinal conditions and inablility to ever walk again! Either way, its stupid in my books and very hard to explain to the girls when you have every Tom, Dick and Harry doing it! The afternoon went quick and was such a great day, loved getting out and exploring again with the HardFirms, totally felt like old times. Great to forget about things for a while too, but we knew we would have to get things sorted eventually.
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| Little friendly fella having a sunbake... |
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| My heart is in my throat at this point! |
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| Swinging rope tree swing.... |
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| Boo allowed to jump off the small ledge.. |
Boof was away at the mines so we invited Nik to come along to Mooloolaba beach with us the the HardFirms to the Australia Day Havana Thong Challenge. It was another scorcher of a day so sunscreen was lathered on a few times, along with throwing on our awesome Australia Day umbrella hats! We set up the marques and embraced the celebrations with thousands of other people down on the beach. It was a scene of huge golden blow up thongs lining up on the beach, ready to try and crack the record of the most amount of Havana Thongs in the ocean at one time. As they all lined up, all the onlookers flocked at the water waiting for the horn to blow. When it blasted off, their was a swarm of people running down the beach to the water and floating out, it looked spectacular! Such a great way to celebrate this fine day in Australia. After the mammoth event, we packed up and headed up to the grassed area where we pulled out the burners and cooked our snags, like the Aussie's we are! Yet another fantastic day on Sunshine Coast...was great to spend with awesome mates and family, pity Boof couldn't be there though...
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| Australia Day fun! |
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| Our set up for the Australia Day fun! |
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| Everyone lining up for the Havanah Thong Challenge... |
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| Looking pretty cool l say! |
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Think this chick got mixed up with what kind
of thong challenge was on today... |
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| And they're off... |
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| Boo and Ella... |
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| Sea of thongs..... |
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| Time for Cam to cook us some snags in the park... |
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| Passer by we met.... |
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| Meg loving her sausage up a tree... |
With the festivities time over, it was time for the girls to start school and seeing we were going to relocate to Maroochydoore Beach Holiday Park, we decided to enrol the girls into Maroochydore State School. The girls were so excited to be returning to main stream school and they had no sadness about mum and dad not being their teachers this year. To be honest, Marty and l were a little excited too, this teacher business isnt as easy as it looks and we were happy to pass the buck off again. On their first day, we were the proudest parents as these two girls walked in all enthusiastic and excited, a little shy, but went into their classrooms eager to start their school year.
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| Boo and Meg ready for their first day of "real" school....2015! |
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| Riley, Boo, Meg and Jordyn.... |
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| Getting their silly faces on..... |
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| School drop off time.... |
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| Meg gets stuck into it straight away... |
After drop off, Marty and l went back to the van to move into the new park at Maroochydore, looking forward to the seaside change. Hopefully this distance we have created between ourselves and our mates will work better for us than living out of each others pockets....however, we had just found out that the Hambrooks are moving to the new park too...so much for space, but at least the kids will have some familiar faces and someone to play with. After setting up our new home at the park, Marty and l were definite that we made the right decision moving into the beach and were excited and eager to go get the girls and see how their day had gone...When we picked them up, Boo and Meg were ecstatic with their day, having made new friends and loved their teachers. So proud that they took on the day with confidence, l remember as a child starting a new school and having the fear of life in me. Maybe this trip around Oz is paying off, making our girls have self confidence and ability to cope with change......
Bell Xxx
